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GOSSIP OF THE TURF The following statement by Auditor Albert O Allen settles the policy of that official on the grant ¬ ing of license to bookmakers in the state of Mis ¬ souri Under the breeders law the auditor is per ¬ mitted to issue licenses where it is established to his satisfaction that the bookmaker making appli ¬ cation and the track upon which he proposes to operate are reputable but it is a legal question whether when these facts are established the audi ¬ tor has a right to refuse to issue them The intent of the legislature in passing the law seems to have been so clearly to foster breeding by encouraging racing that some attorneys incline to the belief that the discretionary clause in the breeders law is really mandatory but there will now be no nces sity of securing a legal interpretation by a court in view of Auditor Allens attitude During the time that the reports of what he intended to do in the matter were afloat he himself refused to express an opinion preferring to investigate the question first Here is the official statement statementHaving Having considered the matter of granting licenses to bookmakers on the Kinloch Delmar and Fair Grounds race courses I have decided to grant licenses in 1902 to persons of good reputation on said tracks on applications made in conformity withlaw reserving the right to refuse licenses on any track after it has been in operation for a period of ninety days to issue such licenses only at my office in the city of Jefferson and not to hesitate to deny licenses on any track or course on which I find the law is being violated violatedThis This ends quite a fight which has been raging be ¬ low the surface for the past two months beginning with a statement made at a meeting of theHVestern Jockey Club in Chicago some eight weeks ago that these licenses would not be issued Ever since then tho Butler interests which were behind the terrific fight made last year have been confidently assert ¬ ing that there would be no racing in St Louis this year The claim became more determined just be ¬ fore tho time came for closing tho entries for the local stakes for tho coming season and the infor ¬ mation was sent to every racing colony in the coun ¬ try that a man close in the confidence of Auditor Allen had declared that gentleman would issue no licenses in the hope of crippling the stakes St Louis Sporting News NewsA A San Francisco paper of February 18 gives tho following account of a fire that recently occurred in Green B Morris stable Green B Morris who has trained horses since the time when most old turfmen were being wheeled about in perambulators came very near losing his entire string Saturday morning by fire A lot of blankets saddles etc were burned up and if the flames had over reached the hay there would have been no time to take out the hundred thousand dollars or more worth of race horses that ho has at tho Oakland track The Morris string is by far the most valuable in California comprising among others Autolight Water Cure Janice Homestead Sombrero and a lot of fashionably bred twoyear olds oldsThe The firewhich came so near being costly was the indirect result of tho bad race Barnato ran the other day and his subsequent good one When he performed so poorly OConnor Mr Morris star jockey rode him The next time out he was 40 to 1 He ran again yesterday by tho way and his race was a fright probably made so by tho heavy sticky going goingAt At any rate on Saturday morning the negro lads employed by Mr Morris as rubbers and exercise boys got into an argument about the horses first race and one of them was outspoken in his belief that OConnor pulled him This remark met with tho strong disapproval of a colored boy known as Sad Sam They were all sitting in one of the box stalls used as a sleeping room warming themselves at a coaloil stove Sad Sam1 left the circle went outside and got a shovel which ho bouncedon the head of tho man who had said OConnor pulled Barnato In the excitement tho coaloil stovejwa knocked over and that started the fire Sad Sam ran outside locked tho door and loft his comrades to roast Fortunately there was a small window in the stall It was just large enough for one of the lads to crawl through and release the others othersArthur Arthur Wall the president of the syndicate which has leased the Piedmont Park property at Atlanta Ga for the purpose of building a mile track arrived from Charleston Sunday and will at once begin work Relative to his plans for the three months beginning December 1 Mr Wall said Just as soon as my affairs can bo concluded in Charleston I will begin active preparations in At ¬ lanta and the track will be ready for the opening in December The business people of the Gate City are impressed with the idea of having the new association and we will undoubtedly get the sup ¬ port necessary to make the meeting the glorious success we anticipate There are a great many matters to be arranged but ample time is left for this and the people of Atlanta can expect the races to start on the day mentioned There is no reason why Atlanta should not be made a big winter racing I center and from what I know by personal associ ation with Atlanta people and from what Mr Oil ¬ man has written I am confident that we have hit upon the right place We will have a rich territory to draw from and the fact cannot be denied that Atlanta is far ahead of all her sister cities of tho south We will not interfere with the meeting in New Orleans neither will the New Orleans meet ing interfere with us It is evident to every one that the south is big enough for two racetracks There is a rumor among turfmen that if tho Els berg bill which gives to the State Racing Commis ¬ sion power to pass on tho incorporation of race tracks intending to hold meetings this year be ¬ comes a law the Jockey Club will arrange to allow the Metropolitan Jockey Club of Jamaica to hold a short meeting next fall to be followed by a regular allotment of dates for the ensuing year The bill as amended by Senator P H McCarren has been reported favorably by tho Senate Judiciary Com ¬ mittee and the prediction is freely made that it will pass both houses of tho Albany Legislature Timothy D Sullivan who is one of the lead ¬ ing promoters of the new Jamaica track said the other day that if tho Elsberg billi passes the Metropolitan Jockey Club will file am application for dates for next year and will alsa ask for a fall meeting as the new track will not bo ready for racing this spring Senator Sullivan says that work on tho new track will bo hurried but that the time needed to complete tho various details is too short to permit racing there until tho middle of summer at the earliest It is said that the Jockey Club is entirely satisfied with tho McCarren amendment which however was rather unexpected When the Elsberg bill becomes a law it will bo impossible for promoters to build race ¬ tracks haphazardly for tho Racing Commission will have unlimited power to say whether a track can open its gates or not New York Sun SunE E J Lucky Baldwin is reported seriously ill at his Santa Anita Ranch says a Los Angeles Cal dis patch to tho Journal and American He had an at ¬ tack of grip about two weeks ago which developed into pneumonia As he is seventyfour years old his chances for recovery are regarded as poor Bald win has been broken in health ever since ho returned from Alaska J N Camden Jr tho noted breeder of thorough ¬ breds of Woodford County Kentucky who recently lost by death tho 10000 stallion Tarbolton intends to make the steamship company pay him for tho loss of his horse Tho horse was injured while crossing the Atlantic and soon after his arrival blood poisoning developed causingthis death
